A letter from Mark Twain addressed to a correspondent in Oklahoma is
published in one of the Kansas City papers. It relates to Rudyard Kipling
and was called out in an interesting manner. It seems that the students
of Stillwater College, in Oklahoma, recently declared that Kipling was
entitled to be regarded as the greatest living writer of English. Dr.
Henry Walker of Oklahoma City disagreed with this verdict in a letter
which he wrote to a paper published in Oklahoma City, and gave that proud
eminence to Mark Twain instead. He sent Mr. Clemens a copy of his letter
and has received the following reply:

"Dear Doctor Walker: I thank you ever so much for the impulse which
moved you to write the article--and for the article, also, which is mighty
good reading. And I am glad you praised Kipling--he deserves it; he deserves
all the praise that is lavished upon him, and more. It is marvelous--the
work which that boy has done the more you read the 'Jungle Books' the
more wonderful they grow. But Kipling himself does not appreciate them
as he ought; he read 'Tom Sawyer' a couple of times when he was coming
up out of his illness and said he would rather be author of that book
than any that has been published during its lifetime. Now, I could have
chosen better, I should have chosen 'Jungle Books.' But I prize his compliment
just the same, of course. I thank you gain and heartily. I haven't the
language to say it strongly enough."